Continuous file or index



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

A. J. RUDOLPH.

CONTINUOUS FILE 0R INDEX.

No. 499,443. Patented June 13, 1893.

TH: NORRIS PETERS cc PHDTO-L No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

A. J. RUDOLPH. CONTINUOUS FILE 0R INDEX.

Patented June 13, 1893.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALEXANDER J. RUDOLPH, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

CONTINUOUS FILE OR INDEX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 499,443, dated June 13,1893.

Application filed February 8, 1893.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER J. RU- DOLPH, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in the city and county of'San Francisco, State ofCalifornia, have invented an Improvement in 2. Continuous File or Index;and I hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exactdescription of the same.

My invention relates to a device which I call a continuous file orindex. I

It consists of a series of cards, the faces of which are adapted toreceives slips containing the subject matter of the index, said cardsbeing hinged or linked together at their edges to form a flexible belt;pins projecting from the ends of certain cards in the series; a supportupon which these pins are carried so that the cards hang in folds of anydesired length upon the support; a means for changing or adjusting thepins so that any even number of slip-holders may be introduced at anydesired points without altering the hanging of the cards; and in certainother details of construction which will be more fully explained byreference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is aperspective view of my improved device. Fig. 2 is a perspective view ofone of the polygonal drums. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of two of theslip-holders and mannerof hinging them together. Fig. 4: is a part of aslip-holder showing the stiffening strap. Fig. 5 shows a portion of aslipholder and the manner of securing the hinge pins. Fig. 6 is a viewof the hinge pin.

The object of my present invention is to provide certain improvementsupon a device which was patented to me September 27, 1892, No. 483,312.In this apparatus certain cards of the series are provided withprojecting pins or rods by which they are suspended, and which are sosituated as to contain any even number of the cards or slip-holdersbetween them, as 10, 14, 20, &c.

In case any slip-holder becomes filled and a new one must be introduced,it will be necessary to introduce two, otherwise the cards will not hangin folds side by side, but-the bottom card would stand transversely,making with the two next adjacent above it a triangular open space whichwould cause detrimental wear of the cards, besides making them oc-Serial No, 461,505. (No model.)

cupy too much space, by reason of their not hanging in parallel lines.It is not always desirable, however, to introduce two slip-holders atone point, and in order to enable me to introduce the second one at somepoint where it will soon be needed, I have constructed slip-holders Awith adjustable rods B which are fitted to slide in tubular channelsformed upon the edges of the slip-holders. These tubular channels areformed by properly bending the aluminum or other metal plates, of whichthe slip-holders may be entirely composed, or which serve to bind andstrengthen the edges of cards of other material which may be used inplace of the metal.

These tubular channels extend from the ends of each side of theslip-holder to a point near the center where they are cut away, as shownat C, leaving an open space at this point. The rods are madesufficiently long to extend from the ends of the slip-holders to thecenter,

there being two rods upon each side of the upon the supporting curvedsegments D below the drums E E by which they are moved.

When it has been determined how many of the cards A shall hang in eachfold below the segment, the rods B of the supporting cards A are drawnoutward so that as the cards are moved by the drum, the rods which aredrawn out Will fall into the supports and slide down toward the center,as shown, while the remaining cards in which the rods are pressed inclosely to the ends will depend in folds from the ones by which they aresuspended. When it is found that a slip-holder is to be introduced atany point in the chain of cards, it is only necessary to disengage thehinges by which the cards are joined together at that point, andintroduce the new leaf. The second leaf may be then introduced at anyother point where it is most likely to he need ed, and the chain willthus be completed. The suspending rods B are then adjusted to suit thenew arrangement of the chain of cards, so that with this new arrangementthe cards will continue to hang in symmetrical and parallel folds fromthe supporting segments.

In my present invention I have shown two polygonal drums E and Ejournaled side by side in the frame, one of these drums being providedwith a crank F at the end of its shaft by which it may be turned. Thetwo drums and rollers have grooves formed in them as shown at G, andaround these drums are placed endless flexible belts II of any suitablematerial. Between the drums one or more friction rollers I are mountedover which these belts pass, and by which they and the chain of cardsare supported as they pass between the drums to prevent an uneven orwaving motion by reason of the weight of the cards. This is necessary toprevent any strain upon the cards and their connecting hinges whichwould soon separate them, and make the'distanee between them too greatfor them to fit accurately about the drums and the proj ecting spursthereon with which they engage, and this stretching would prevent theirregistering perfectly, which is absolutely necessary.

Flanges or arms e projecting around the peripheries of the drums, serveto retain the chain of cards on the drums, and direct them, if for anyreason the drums are not journaled exactly parallel.

Upon the shafts of the drums, at one or both ends, are fixed thesprocket wheels J around which pass chains K, so that the drums are bothrotated by means of the crank which turns one of the drums, and they areboth thus caused to move at an even pace, and without strain upon thechain of cards which would otherwise take place. In order to keep aproper tension upon the chain, I have shown a tightening pulley Lmounted upon a suitably fulcrumed lever arm M, and the outer end of thislever is adjusted by an eccentric roller N which allows the end of thelever arm to be raised or depressed, and thus correspondingly increaseor decrease the pressure of the roller L upon the chain and theconsequent tension of the latter. It will be manifest that in place ofthe chain or flexible belt connection, gear wheels may be used toproduce the same result, but I prefer the chain or belt as being simpleror more noiseless.

In order to conveniently connect and disconnect the cards, I have shownhinge pins consisting of twisted elastic wires 0 extending from one ofthe hinge lugs to the other. At the ends, these wires are separated toform forks P, the sides of which are wide enough apart to allow one ofthem to engage the hinged loop Q of each of the adjacent cards. Thesecards may be made of metal or of pasteboard or other suitable materialhaving metallic strips fixed upon the edges and bent over so as to formgrooves or channels upon each side for the reception of the slips whichare introduced transversely across the cards until the cards are filledfrom end to end. The ends of the grooves or channels are closed or madenarrower so as to prevent the slips from bein gdisplaced or removed, andwhen the cards are only partially filled with slips, I employ elasticstop pieces or checks R which fit sufficiently close within the groovesor channels to prevent the slips from moving.

Across the back of each 'of the cards or slip-holders is fitted a stripof metal S which is bent into a hook form at each end, and its length issuch that when it is slipped over the card any transverse strain ortension will be brought directly upon these metal strips.

Through the bend or bight, where the hook portion is formed, a hole ismade of suflicient size to receive the eye-loop T which forms the hinge.This eye-loop is formed of a wire bent as shown, and having the ends Textending in line with each other over a short distance.

I-Ioles corresponding with thosein the strips are made through the bentmetallic edges of the slip-holders, and of sufficient diameter to allowthe eye or loop T to be passed through the hole, and the parallelportions T of the wire pushed in until they lie along the inner edge orbottom of the grooves or channels formed by the folds of the metallicplates on the edges of the cards. The loop is then twisted to stand atright angles with its former position, and in line with the edges of thecards so as to receive the hinged pins P. As these metallic strips arebent short enough so that all strain by reason of the weight or pullupon the cards, is brought upon these strips, the cards are thusrelieved from it and prevented from being torn, pulled apart, orstretched in the direction of their width, so as to lengthen the chainand prevent their registering perfectly. as they pass around thepolygonal drums. The wires 0 which extend between the hinges aresulficiently flexible so that by bending them into a curve at pointsbetween the hinges they will be sufficiently shortened to withdraw theends P, and thus allow the cards to be separated for the introduction ofothers, or for any other purpose and when the ends P are introduced intothe hinged loops of two adjacent cards and the wire allowed tostraighten out between them, these ends will be pushed through the loopsfar enough to hold the cards together and form the hinges about whichthey move. It will be manifest that these hinge wires may be formed invarious other ways, the object being to provide a sufiiciently elasticwire or connection having the forked ends to serve as hinge pins. Thecentral portion is ornamental and serves to partially fill the spacebetween the adjacent cards, and to cover such portions of the interiordrums as would be visible through these spaces.

In my former patent I showed pins projecting at each end of the drum andin the fiat sides thereof, and corresponding holeswere made in the endsof the slip-holders to fit these pins. This construction made itnecessary to make the holes very exact in order to cause the cards toregister accurately as they passed over the drums, and it was alsoobjectionable because the holes occupied a certain amount of space thatcould otherwise be utilized for the reception of slips. In my presentinvention I make these projecting spurs U upon the angles at the ends ofthe polygonal drums, and they then project between the adjacent edges ofthe cards and outsideof the hinge strips, thus causing the cards toregister perfectly, saving the expense of making the holes, and causingthem to register accurately as in the former construction. It alsoallows the full length of each slip-holder for the introduction of slipswhich in a long series and for large catalogues becomes very important.

In order to prevent the chain of cards from knocking against the sidesof the case within which they are contained by reason of the centrifugalforce and swing produced by the revolution of the drums, I place onopposite sides of thecase two or more strips V of leather, rubber, orother flexible material, which are supported in such a manner as toleave a little space between the strips V and the wall of the case.These strips thus receive the cards if they have any swinging motion andprevent their striking against the sides of the case, and being of softmaterial they prevent any injury to the holders or slips contained inthem.

In connection with this device I use a series of movable catch lettersor numbers printed in heavy bold faced type, which are introduced atintervals between the slips in the slip-holders, and by their appearancearrest the attention, and assist in rapidly locating the place of entryor entries which'it is desired to examine. In connection with this I mayalso use movable subdivisions or headings marked in colors. Theimportance of this will be recognized when it is understood that foreach State of theUnited States, and each other country, there are aboutone hundred and forty subdivisions. The subdivisions for cities amountto one hundred and fifty. The subdivisions for the Bible amount to aboutthree hundred, and in addition to these are the subdivisions forastronomy, chemistry, engineering, architecture, arts, sciences,theology, philosophy, &c., in the printed catalogues, as, for instance,in the Peabody catalogue all these subdivisions are printed in italics.By means of movable colored subdivisions they are made to stand out sothat any work is easily located without spending much time to find it.

The cost of printing the Peabody catalogue in the one color is abouttwenty-five thousand dollars. If printed in two colors the samecatalogue would cost about fifty thousand dollars, while by the use ofthese colored subdi vision indicators I am enabled to keep my Patent,isr 1. A file or index consisting of a series of cards or holders linkedtogether at their edges to form a flexible endless belt, rods or hangersprojecting from the ends of the cards at certain intervals, said rodsbeing slidable in guides upon the edges of the cards whereby they may bedrawn out or retracted to change the points of suspension of the cards,and lugs.

adapted to receive these rods and suspend the cards in successive sheetssubstantially as herein described.

2. A file or index consisting of the series of cards or holders havingchannels formediupon their opposite edges to receive the ends oftransverse placed slips, tubular channels.

formed in the edges of the cards, said channels being cut away at thecentral portion of the card as shown, rods fitting said channels andslidable therein so as to be projected beyond the ends of the cards orclosed up flush with the ends, yokes adapted to receive these rods andsuspend the cards in sheets with folds of a length which is determinedby the distance between the projected rods, substantially as hereindescribed.

3. A file or index consisting of a series of cards having channelsformed upon their edges to receive transversely located slips,independent metallic strips extending across the cards near each end andbent over the edges of the cards so as to clasp them, wire loops passedthrough holes in the turned over edges of the channels,'and theoverlapping metallic strips and projecting exterior to said strips so asto form hinged loops, the inner portions of the wire extending along thebottoms of the'oliannels parallel with the sides of the cards,substantially as'herein described.

4. A file or index consisting of a series of cards having grooves orchannels formed upon their opposite edges for the reception oftransversely located movable slips, transverse metallic strips extendingacross the cards, near IIO each end, and bent over the opposite edgesthereof, wire hinge loops extending through openings in the groovechannels and corresponding holes in the metallic strips whereby thetransverse tension is received by the me tallic strips, hinge pins bywhich the adja-' cent edges of cards are flexibly connected together,said pins consisting of elastic rods having forked ends adapted to fitthe hinge loops at opposite ends of two adjacent cards and connect themtogether, substantially as herein described.

5. A file or index consisting of a series of cards or holders havinggrooved channels upon their opposite edges for the reception of movabletransverse slips, hinges by which the adjacent edges of the cards areflexibly connected together, and adjustable rods or hangers projectingfrom the ends of the cards at certain intervals, yokes so fixed as toreceive the rods or hangers and suspend the cards therefrom in foldedsheets, polygonal drums, the faces of which correspond in width with thecards, said drums being journaled in the case and having connectingflexible bands, intermediate supporting rollers over which the bands andcards pass from one drum to the other, sprocket-wheels upon the drumshafts with chains connecting them whereby the drums are rotated inunison and the strain and tension removed from the cards and theirconnecting hinges, substantially as herein described.

6. A file or index consisting of the series of cards or holders havingtheir edges flexibly linked together to form a series or endless belt,rods or hangers adjustable in the ends of the cards, and yokes uponwhich said hangers are received, polygonal drums mounted parallel witheach other in the containing case having their faces of correspondingwidth with the cards, connecting belts and chains whereby the cards aresupported between the drums and the drums are caused to rotate inunison, spurs projecting from the angles of the drums at each end, andadapted to enter the spaces between the cards in line with their hingeconnections whereby the cards are caused to register accurately upon thedrum faces as they move over them, substantially as herein described.

7. A file or index consisting of a series of cards or holders linkedtogether attheir edges to form a flexible endless belt, projecting rodsand hangers by which the cards are caused to hang in a series of folds,polygonal drums j ournaled parallel with each other over which the cardsare caused to pass by the rotation of the drums, endless connectingbands and supporting rollers between the drums over which the cardspass, sprocket-wheels upon the drum shafts, and endless chains passingaround said sprockets whereby the drums are rotated in unison withouttension upon the cards, a fulcrumed lever having a roller journaled inone end and adapted to press upon the chain, and an eccentric or camadjustable with relation to the opposite end of the lever whereby thetension of the chain and the power required to rotate the drums areregulated, substantially as herein described.

8. A file or index consisting of a series of cards or holders linkedtogether at their edges to form a flexible endless belt, drums journaledparallel with each other in the upper part of a case and connectedtogether so as to be rotated in unison, said drums having polygonalfaces corresponding in width with the cards and connecting endless beltand supportlng rollers whereby the uppermost cards are supported andexposed beneath a transparent top of the case for inspection, rodsprojecting from the ends of the cards at certain intervals, and yokesfixed beneath the drums adapted to receive these projecting rods andsuspend the intervening cards in parallel hanging sheets, and elasticstrips fixed upon the sides of the case opposite the lines of cardswhereby the latter are prevented from swinging outwardly and strikingthe case, substantially as herein described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

ALEXANDER J. RUDOLPH. Witnesses:

S. H. NOURSE, G110. H. STRONG.

